Spanish Conductor Favors the German Repertory

Stereotypes die hard. Ask Jesus Lopez-Cobos, who arrives tonight on the podium of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. One might not know, at first, that the Spanish conductor has been pegged an Iberian specialist, for he addresses a standard repertory mix of all-time favorites by Rossini, Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn.

But what we do have on Thursday? You guessed it: Falla’s “Three-Cornered Hat” and Ravel’s “Alborado del Gracioso.” Not that there’s anything wrong with trusting to Lopez-Cobos’ native affinity for Hispanic music--except that the man insists he “is more attuned to Wagner than to Falla, and more at home in Berlin than in Madrid.”

When the 48-year-old music director of the Cincinnati Symphony left his homeland half his lifetime ago it was to study in Vienna with Hans Swarowsky. And even before he departed, his family’s cultural leanings assured the Germanic influence. In fact, everything that led up to his first conducting assignment at age 30 destined Lopez-Cobos for the central European niche he has carved for himself.

It comes as no surprise that he typically programs Bruckner and Schoenberg when leading the Orquestra Nacional de Espana, of which he is also music director. Yes, Lopez-Cobos is a proselytizer--but the reverse of what American audiences might expect.

“There is a big appetite now for German music in Spain,” he says by phone from Cincinnati, confirming that the post-Franco era represents a desire for upward cultural mobility and a move away from national fare.

“When you can say that Bruckner is not a novelty, that’s saying something. As proof, two new music halls are about to open in Madrid. To realize that central European music was unheard 20 years ago is to know how things have changed.”

His voice is gentle, his words purposeful. His Castilian accent has been tempered by fluency in German. He rolls his r’s with loving abandon. And when he mentions Wagner’s “Ring,” which he conducts as music director of the Deutsche Oper, Berlin, his tongue flutters unabashedly.

Next June he brings the West Berlin company and its 2-year-old Gotz Friedrich production of the tetralogy to Washington. And in 1991, he says, Los Angeles will get to know Lopez-Cobos the opera conductor. He will lead Richard Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” for Music Center Opera, with Friedrich as stage director.

With all this, however, the Spanish musician looks forward to easing his way out of opera, at least the kind of full-time directorship he has enjoyed with the Berlin Opera for seven years.

“It’s too time-consuming,” he explains. “It leaves too little opportunity for symphonic work--although I love opera and will always want to do a special production here or there. When my contract with Berlin runs out (1990), I will be free to negotiate something with a central European chamber orchestra. “

Meanwhile Lopez-Cobos continues to straddle his Berlin-Madrid-Cincinnati axis--and squeeze in just a few guest appearances, like this one at Hollywood Bowl. He has no plans to renew his contract in Madrid, he says, but hopes to continue in Cincinnati.

But does he see the American orchestra as an endangered species--inasmuch as those in Nashville and New Orleans have been at least temporarily dismantled recently due to lack of financial support?

“Not at all. The Cincinnati orchestra is 94 years old and steeped in the Central European tradition. The community acts as a strong sponsor. It provides the players with a four-year contract. For the moment we don’t face any threat. But it’s interesting, how American orchestras are run.

“There is so much variability from one to another. The main disadvantage, of course, is that they are too dependent on the economic situation of the particular city. In Europe, subsidy takes care of the matter. Yet you have a certain creative spur to make good music here. Being self-perpetuating prods the imagination for bolstering the box office.”

But if worse ever came to worse and conducting turned into an obsolete profession, Lopez-Cobos would not be at a loss. With a doctoral degree in philosophy from Madrid University--earned before his music career began--he says he would happily return to academia. That is not likely to happen, though. At least for now, philosophy’s loss is music’s gain.